Throwback to when India and Pakistan faced-off in Dubai for an ICC event

sanjeev

khelja|23-12-2024

The impasse over ICC Champions Trophy has ended. Pakistan Cricket Board has accepted to host the tournament in "Hybrid" format.

India refused to travel to Pakistan to play its matches citing security conditions prevailing in the country. The team will be playing its matches at a "neutral venue". This neutral venue has been finalised as Dubai in the UAE.

According to a ESPNCRICINFO report, the high-profile India v Pakistan match of the ICC Champions Trophy will be played at the Dubai International Stadium.

It will be the second time that the stadium will play host to the two Asian rivals for an ICC event.

So when was the last time the two teams met at this stadium for an ICC event and what was the outcome of that match?

Three years ago at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021 was played in the UAE with the Indian cricket board, the BCCI playing as the host.

The 12-team tournament saw India and Pakistan clubbed together in Group 2 for the group-stage match.

India's tournament opener was against Pakistan and the two teams headed to the Dubai International Cricket Stadium for the face-off.

The Men-in-Blue were led by Virat Kohli while Babar Azam was at the helm of affairs for the Green Shirts. Babar won the toss and asked India to bat first.

Shaheen Shah Afridi sent early jitters in the Indian camp with a fiery opening spell in which he accounted for the wickets of Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. Rohit was trapped in front of the wickets just on the fourth delivery of the match and Rahul was clean bowled on the first delivery of the third over.

Afridi got support from fellow paceman Hasan Ali who picked the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav. With Rohit, Rahul and Surya gone inside the Powerplay, India's scored read 31/3.

It was at this stage that Kohli decided to take matters in his own hands and struck a half-century. Kohli got good support from Rishabh Pant. Thanks to Kohli's knock (57 off 49 balls) and Pant's innings of 39 India recovered from early setbacks and posted a total of 151/7.

During the mid-game interval India hoped that its bowling comprising of Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvnashwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravindra Jadeja would help India defend the total.

But what transpired next is cherished by Pakistani cricket fans and equally loathed by Indian cricket aficionados.

Babar and his opening partner Mohammad Rizwan played the innings of their lives as they blunted the Indian attack. The duo largely played risk-free cricket and struck half-centuries. Pace and spin was played with equal poise as Babar and Rizwan struck a 152-run opening partnership and guided Pakistan to an emphatic 10-wicket victory.

It was Pakistan's first win over India in their 13th attempt in World Cups (ODI and T20Is).

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